Fig. 5.—Showing wig, eyebrow, nose, and mustache combined.
Fig. 6.—Another example, showing bonnet, wig, nose, spectacles, and veil combined.
The artist must of necessity be clean-shaven, so that he can adapt beard, “mutton chops,” or mustache as required.
[Figs. 5] and [6] show completed examples of one-piece transformations. [Fig. 7] depicts coat and breeches combined.
Most important of all the quick-change artist must be self-reliant, self-confident, and absolute master of emotions engendered by nervousness, for these lead to loss of memory where words and modes of entrance and exit are concerned. While on the stage his mind must be concentrated on the part he is playing to the exclusion of everything else, his attention as completely focused upon the impersonation as though the other characters were being undertaken by different individuals.
For many of these practical suggestions the writer is indebted to a versatile quick-change artist, who willingly revealed some of the secrets connected with his favorite form of entertainment. He emphasized the fact that success is not achieved by means of numerous wigs and costumes—a performer may possess the most elaborate wardrobe, repertoire, and paraphernalia, and yet sadly fail to move the interest and sympathy of his spectators.
As this artist remarked, the true art lies in facial expression, gesture, attitude, and change of voice. These must be cultivated assiduously before any one-man play is produced, for it is only when the features are plastic as rubber, gesture and attitude the perfection of mimicry, the voice containing every note in the range in which language is expressed, that the steep ladder of success is scaled, and the timid novice becomes transformed into the popular resourceful artist.
Fig. 7.—Breeches and boots, showing front and back views; dotted lines indicate springs.